Monday, January 28, 2013

Stepping Back in Time

Have you heard of the Infinity Ring series? It was brought to my attention by my fellow 5th grade teachers and my kids LOVED IT. We read the first book as a read aloud and they ate it up. I highly recommend it. It's going to be a seven book series - which would be great to get your kids hooked on! I have several in my room reading book number two now.

In social studies, we're finishing up our study on the American Revolution (so fun!) and I wanted to do a little creative project. After pulling some ideas from all over the internet, I decided to tie in the American Revolution to the Infinity Ring. I gave my class the prompt below:

Imagine you have an Infinity Ring just like Dak and Sera!
Ms. Furnell has asked you to use the device to travel back to 1773 in Boston,
Massachusetts. You travel back and realize that you’re a colonist who has a
vital decision to make. Will you join the rebels and participate in the Boston
Tea Party? Will you decide to stay loyal to the British King? Write a diary
entry in which you explain your decision.

On Friday afternoon, we dunked sheets of white paper in tea and set them out to try for the weekend. Today, my class began writing their final copies of their diary entries. They were so excited! I heard several times that THIS was their favorite project so far. Who knew writing could be so fun? :)

Reading the letters has been the best experience. I'm amazed by their creativity. As part of the prompt, they had to include 4-5 factual reasons why they picked their "side". All of my students took the prompt and RAN with it.. creating an alternate life in the 1700's with family members such as Betsy Ross, Sam Adams, and George Washingtion. One student even took credit for firing that famous, "shot heard around the world".

Another big highlight of the day was our brand new pencil sharpener. It was a BIG hit.